Rotary plow



2 Sheets-Sheet 2. G. B. ST. JOHN & J. K. UNDERWOOD.'

Rotary-Plow. N0. 227,070. Patented April 27,1880

Witnesses:

PETERS. PHOTD-LITHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON, DHQ

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GARLAND 13. ST. JOHN AND JOHN K. UN DERYVOOD, OF CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA.

1 ROTARY PLOW.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 227,070, dated April 27, 1880.

Application'filed February 16, 1880. I

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, GARLAND B. ST. JOHN and JOHN K. UNDERWOOI), ofthe city of Cedar Rapids, in the county of Linn and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Plows, of which the following is a specification. The object of this invention is to so modify the frame of the plow that the wheel which moves horizontally as the implement turns shall be in front of the truck-wheels and governed by the tongue for the better control of the plow; to so arrange thelifting device that the drivers weight shall assist in raising the plow-disks out of the earth to provide acheap, simple, and efficient shifting-axle for the disks for the attachment of ordinary plow-bottoms for breaking sod, and an improved blade or share for cutting under the unplowed land.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the implement; Fig. 2, a plan view of same; Fig. 3, a sectional view of the disk-axle, showing the parts in detail; Fig. 4, a modification of the same, and Fig. 5 the breakingshare attachinent.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts. 1

AA are truck-wheels, mounted onan axle, B. Extending forwardly from the axleare two arms, 0 G, to the ends of which the frame D is connected by a hinge-joint, which admits of free movement vertically. After connecting with the frame the right-hand arm makes an angle and extends upwardly, terminating in a suitable handle, to be grasped by the operator. To this lever is attached a pawl, which acts in the ratchet E formed on the right division of the frame, with a suitable device for disengaging the pawl as desired. This lever, as will be obvious, raises or depresses the frame and disks F attached thereto as the same is thrown backward or forward, respectively. As the weight required in aframe sufficiently strong for the purpose is very considerable, the operation of lifting the same, together with the superincumbent soil, as the plowis at work, is one requiring too much effort on the part of the operator with a lever as ordinarily constructed. weight of the driver is made to counterbalance the weight above mentioned.

To overcome this diffieulty the Arms a (t extend backward from the axle, and to these the seat G is attached by means of supports b I). These arms may be provided with holes at varying distances from the axle and the weight of the driver regulated by shifting the supports in these holes, according to circumstances. An additional support, b, extends forward from the seat and connects with a hinge-joint to the frame, allowing the same to move up or down with perfect freedom. These supports may be made to spring with the inequalities of the surface of the ground, and thereby contribute to the comfort of the operator.

The labor of raising the plow-disks from the earth is effected by the operators placing his feet on the axle and throwing his weight entirely upon the seat at the same time that the lever is drawn back. Theincreased ease with which the work can be performed thereby will be at once apparent.

The frame D is somewhat the shape of a Y in general outline, with an additional arm for the forward disk. The rear disk is attached to the right arm of the upper portion of the Y from thevdrivers point of view, and the forward arm extends to the right of this the width of a furrow. At the extreme forward end the frame is turned into a partial circle with a transverse bar across the center. Placed across this circle, with a king-bolt in the cen ter, is the axle of the fore wheel, J. The axle swings freely around the king-bolt on a horizontal plane in the nature of the fifth-wheel to a wagon. The right end of the axle from the drivers point of View is turned down some distance with a suitable journal for the hub of the wheel J. The latter is made smaller than the hind wheels for convenience in turning, as the wheel is designed to run in the furrow. The vertical part of the axle may be so arranged as to admit the wheel being shifted up or down thereon, if desired. Practically this necessity will probably not occur, as both the fore wheel and the right hind wheel run in furrows, and when once the lower edge of the disks are in line with the lower peripheries of these wheels the plow is in a condition to do good work, whatever the depth of the furrow or the inequality of the surface of the unplowed land may be. 1

The tongue H is connected to the axle I and controls absolutely its lateral motion. As a consequence the wheel always runs exactly in the line of draft, turns instantly with the tongue, and permits the plow to be backedpoints essential to the correct working of the plow, and difficult, if not impossible, to be secured by the use of a caster-wheel at the rear. But one wheel in front is represented, as in the judgment of the inventors this is better than two. Not only does it, while following the furrow,.run level, as with two wheels it would not do, but the unsupported part of the frame, by reason of its overhanging weight, tends todraw the plow-disks into the soil and keep them there, however hard and dry the ground may be.

It is not our intention, however, to limit this invention to the use of one wheel in front.

The improved shifting-axle is represented in Fig. 3. It consists in a straight shaft, 8, of iron, one end fitted to the hub of the wheel and the other provided with a thread and nut. The axle s is also furnished with a collar, t, which serves as a bearing for the inner end of the hub and also for that part of the frame on against which it is securely drawn by means of the nut 0. The changes in the position of the axle and consequent changes in the angles of the disks, as required to meet the varying conditions and quality of the soil, are effected by having the inner face of the collar made beveling, w-hen, by simply turning the axle, the proper position is found. The better to secure it in its position the face of the collar may be notched, as represented.

Hitherto a bent axle has been used, and the necessary changes made by turning it in the journal box, where it is secured by a setscrew. But great exactness is demanded in both the manufacture and adjustment of these axles, so that both operations are necessarily slow, and the former involves needless expense. Besides, the set-screw is apt to be broken or the thread destroyed, and thus rendered useless. By making the axle straight the cost of manufacture is very materially reduced, and with a strong thread and nut no danger of its giving out is to be apprehended.

In order that the axle may be held in position through the pressure exerted on the ends of a supporting-bearing bythe fixed collar and nut through the medium of the extended portion of the axle, it is not important what the specific means for shifting the angle of the axle may be. This is illustrated in Fig. 4. Here, instead of the beveled collar, a sort of ball-shaped collaris used, which fits into a correspondin g socket in the apex of a funnel-shaped bearing. Variations in the position of the axle I are made by moving the stem of the axle in and out of the serrations formed in an inner flange in the large end of the bearing, and drawing all tight by means of the nut. The result is the same in both cases, as is the means for holding the axle in position, the only difi'erence being in the manner of changing the pitch of the axle. Other modifications of the same idea might be mentioned; but as they would be only modifications it is not deemed essential here.

The plow is still further improved by providing shares H, Fig. 5, to be attached to the place vacated by the plow-disks for the purpose of breaking sod. The manner of attaching is so obvious from a glance at Fig. 5 and the dotted outline in Fig. 3 that any descriptionof the same would be superfluous. As the disks unassisted do not turn sod successfully, this attachment will be found to be of great value.

The improvement in the share or blade S for cutting under the unplowedland at the bottom of the furrow consists in mounting a sharp-edged circular disk on a vertical standard at its lower end, around which it revolves. The standard is attached in any suitable manner to the frame ofthe plow behind each plowdisk respectively, as at 8. So arranged, the sharp edge of each cuts under the unplowed furrow, following it, and thus facilitates the turning of that furrow. This is especially true of sod, where without such assistance the plow-disks fail to turn the furrow satisfactorily.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with frame D, as described, and rotary disks F, the horizontal under revolving cutting-disk, S, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The frame D, Y-shaped at the rear, having swinging side guide-wheel, J, at the forward end, and carrying on the side the disks F, combined with lever K, ratchet E, and arm 0, and wheels A, substantially as described.

3. In a plow, the combination of a forward and vertically-cutting disk with a horizontalcutting share-blade located behind said disk and adapted to out under and to the bottom of the furrow, substantially as described.

In witness whereof we hereto set our hands this 24th day of January, A. D. 1880.

GARLAND B. ST. JOHN. JOI:[l\ K. UNDERWOOD. In presence of- J. M. ST. JOHN, It. H. GILMORE.

LOO 

